HARARE: Zimbabwe’s new finance minister Mthuli Ncube announced a five-percent cut to senior government officials’ salaries on Thursday in a bid to mend the shattered economy.
Ncube’s budget also set out plans for the biometric registration of civil servants to weed out “ghost” workers who appear on the payroll without actually turning up to work.
Ncube said the government would from January cut basic salaries “for all senior positions,... up to deputy ministers, ministers and the (presidency).
“The salary cuts are also extended to basic salaries of those in designated posts in state-owned enterprises, including constitutional commissions and grant-aided institutions.”
The public sector wage bill accounts for 90 percent of the country’s revenues and the problem of phantom workers is another drag on the nation’s finances.
This was the first budget since President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s disputed election.
Chaos broke out in parliament after the speaker used police officers to eject opposition members from the building for failing to stand up when Mnangagwa walked into the house.
The theme of the $6.6 billion 2019 budget was “austerity will lead us to prosperity.”
It also unveiled limited compensation of $53 million dollars for white farmers evicted during the government’s controversial land reforms, nearly two decades ago.
Without giving a figure, the government said it planned to reduce the number of the country’s foreign missions from the current 46.
Ncube said the 2018 budget deficit would be 11.7 percent of GDP, while growth was forecast to be four percent this year and 3.1 percent next year.
Zimbabwe’s monthly inflation in October rose to 20 percent from five percent, due to a rise in transport and food costs.
Mnangagwa took over from veteran autocrat Robert Mugabe last year and won disputed elections in July after campaigning on a pledge to revive the economy, attract foreign investment and create jobs.
But less than three months after the vote, the dire financial problems of the Mugabe era — shortages of fuel and basic foodstuffs including bread, sugar cooking oil and essential medicines — have returned to haunt the new leader.
The latest crisis erupted last month when Ncube announced a two-percent tax on electronic transactions to increase revenue.
Many Zimbabweans rely on electronic payments as US dollars, which function as the main currency, are scarce, and the local “bond note” currency is little trusted.
Bond notes were introduced in 2016. Although in theory equal to the US dollar, they were soon trading at a far weaker rate, and the gap has widened in recent weeks.
Public anger at the state of the economy was a contributing factor to November’s military intervention that finally toppled Mugabe, then 93, after 37 years in office.
Mugabe’s reign as the head of the ruling ZANU-PF party was marked by corruption and mismanagement that led to an exodus of investors, mass emigration and collapse of many public services.
Unemployment is generally put at over 90 percent, while the size of the economy has halved since 2000 when many white-owned farms were seized.
Zimbabwe to cut government salaries to curb spending: minister
Zimbabwe to cut government salaries to curb spending: minister
- The public sector wage bill accounts for 90 percent of the country’s revenues
- The theme of the $6.6 billion 2019 budget was “austerity will lead us to prosperity.”
Israel says Netanyahu will meet with Trump on Wednesday about Iran talks
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday about the US talks with Iran
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday about American talks with Iran, his office said Saturday, while Iran’s foreign minister threatened US military bases in the region a day after the discussions.
“The prime minister believes that all negotiations must include limiting the ballistic missiles, and ending support for the Iranian axis,” Netanyahu’s office said in a brief statement, referring to Tehran’s support for militant groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories. Trump and Netanyahu last met in December.
There was no immediate White House comment.
The US and the Islamic Republic of Iran held indirect talks on Friday in Oman that appeared to return to the starting point on how to approach discussions over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Trump called the talks “very good” and said more were planned for early next week. Washington was represented by Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to compel Iran to reach a deal on its nuclear program after sending the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships to the region amid Tehran’s crackdown on nationwide protests that killed thousands.
Gulf Arab nations fear an attack could spark a regional war, with memories fresh of the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June.
For the first time in negotiations with Iran, the US on Friday brought its top military commander in the Middle East to the table. US Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, head of the military’s Central Command, then visited the USS Abraham Lincoln on Saturday with Witkoff and Kushner, the command said in a statement.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told journalists Friday that “nuclear talks and the resolution of the main issues must take place in a calm atmosphere, without tension and without threats.” He said that diplomats would return to their capitals, signaling that this round of negotiations was over.
On Saturday, Araghchi told the Al Jazeera satellite news network that if the US attacks Iran, his country doesn’t have the ability to strike the US “and therefore has to attack or retaliate against US bases in the region.”
He said there is “very, very deep distrust” after what happened during the previous talks, when the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites during last year’s Israel-Iran war.
Araghchi also said the “missile issue” and other defense matters are “in no way negotiable, neither now nor at any time in the future.”
Tehran has maintained that these talks will be only on its nuclear program.
However, Al Jazeera reported that diplomats from Egypt, Turkiye and Qatar offered Iran a proposal in which Tehran would halt enrichment for three years, send its highly enriched uranium out of the country and pledge to “not initiate the use of ballistic missiles.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the talks needed to include all those issues.
Israel, a close US ally, believes Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon and wants its program scrapped, though Iran has insisted that its atomic plans are for peaceful purposes. Israel also wants a halt to Iran’s ballistic missile program and its support for militant groups in the region.
Araghchi, speaking at a forum in Qatar on Saturday, accused Israel of destabilizing the region, saying that it “breaches sovereignties, it assassinates official dignitaries, it conducts terrorist operations, it expands its reach in multiple theaters.” He criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and called for “comprehensive and targeted sanctions against Israel, including an immediate arms embargo.”
